Just say no to Pakistan's extortion

Our terrorist-supporting "ally" Pakistan has outdone itself again.
Rather than pin a medal on the doctor who helped confirm bin Laden's identity, it has tossed him in jail on a 33-year treason sentence. Along with other extortionate acts against America, this speaks volumes about what this major recipient of U.S. foreign aid thinks it can get away with from Washington.
Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi helped the CIA confirm the identity of the man they suspected was bin Laden, paving the way for U.S. Navy SEALs to kill him last May. Instead of apologizing for unwittingly (or wittingly) harboring the man responsible for incinerating 3,000 American civilians, Pakistan's government instead expressed outrage at the heroes who nailed the Al Qaeda leader. They rounded up Afridi and this week, convicted him of treason.
That wasn't the only slap at Washington.
Earlier this week, at the NATO summit, Pakistan's prime minister refused to back away from an extortionate demand for payment to supply our fighting men and women in Afghanistan. Pakistan's government wants a $5,000 bribe for each truck or container that carries military goods to or from Afghanistan. The potential magnitude of this is stunning when one considers that it will take tens of thousands of container-loads to complete the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Worse still, this would be on top of an obscene amount of aid that has gone from American taxpayers to Pakistan. This for a government that recently has supported terrorists in their attacks on Americans, Afghans and Indians. More than $20 billion U.S. taxpayer dollars have gone to Islamabad since 9/11. This amount spiked in recent years, with annual aid hovering around $3 billion. Like so many bad ideas in Washington, the bribe hike had broad bipartisan support from our foreign policy establishment â€” including the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Obama administration officials are not above paying a per-container bribe to Pakistan on top of this copious aid. For the privilege of fighting terrorists on Pakistan's borders, the U.S. is reportedly already willing to pay $500 per container, but is expected to settle at a higher number.
A Senate committee voted yesterday to slice just $33 million from aid to Pakistanâ€”a million dollars for each year of Dr. Afridi's sentence. Other actions on Capitol Hill could reduce Pakistan's aid to "merely" a billion dollars per year.
Such largesse with money we don't have is hardly tough enough love for Pakistan. In our past, we would have had the honor and intelligence not to tolerate extortion of this nature.
Our schools teach American children about the "XYZ Affair" in our history. In that episode, France and its corrupt representative wanted outrageous bribes to restore diplomatic relations after the murderous French Revolution. Then-President Adams flatly refused and a congressman summed up the matter with the succinct phrase: "Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute!"
The point is that giving in to extortion from a reprehensible and adversarial government is wrong for reasons of principle, but also pragmatism. The practitioners of our foreign policy then knew what those of ours today do not: that acquiescing to extortion leads to more extortion and rewards the corrupt.
Today, there is a pragmatic alternative to indulging Pakistan's government. The U.S. can focus on supplying Afghanistan and ultimately removing our forces via Central Asia instead of Pakistan. This involves moving goods through a combination of the other "stans" and the Caspian Sea or Russia. The costs are higher, but they could be brought down if NATO commits a fraction of what it gives Islamabad and Kabul each year to improve rail and road transportation instead.
This would also be better economically and politically for Afghanistan, orienting its economy and interests â€” and ultimately its future â€” away from Pakistan. It would stymie Pakistan's imperialist adventure in Afghanistan -- the reason it supports terrorists and insurgents there.
This sorry episode also raises the question of whom President Obama expects to cooperate with the U.S. if we do nothing to protect those who are our friends. It isn't clear if Dr. Afridi expected a reward for helping the U.S. identify bin Laden, but he presumably at least expected Washington to have his back if he was acted against.
Perhaps President Obama has been too busy congratulating himself for the bin Laden raid over the past year to consider protecting those who helped us. This would fit a pattern with his administration. For example, during Mr. Obama's tenure, WikiLeaks has compromised globally those cooperating with U.S. diplomats, soldiers and intelligence officers. Even after successive waves of disclosures, Mr. Obama and his aides have failed to act. It has been a year-and-a-half since Attorney General Holder said he was undertaking "significant" actions against WikiLeaks and that "we are doing everything that we can."
Apparently doing "everything" is actually doing nothing â€” both then and now. Like WikiLeaks, Pakistan seems never to be held to account for its misconduct by the Obama administration or the Washington foreign policy establishment.
Obama's message: Good luck Dr. Afridi, wherever you are

US forces should have gotten Dr. Afridi out of Pakistan as soon as his work was done. Do we know if he chose to stay in that country?

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Why are you so surprised?USA has habit of dumping allies after its work get over.It dumped both afghans and pakistani people after it got its job done in 1990 against USSR.no wonder habits die hard.Hence there should be no surprise that usa got enmity of both pakistani and afghan people.And i'm sure in future some relative of Dr. Afridi will keep this betrayal of usa in mind and will join tailiban/al-qaida to attack usa in future.It was usa which only gave clue about Dr.afridi to pak intelligence by over-zealously publishing operation to capture osama in media.

check how much FREE military aid that america has given pakistan, it is several billions every year. if you combine it over the years, the number is extremely large.

pakistan are more friendly to us even though we do not give them free billions every year like america does, we give them loans instead.

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The number is a lot higher probably over 35 billion. USA gives a monthly stipend and pays
for transit fees for supply routes. Paying a lot of money is one thing but getting zero results
after 10 + years says a lot. Make sure they pay your loans back they have a habit of confusing
loans and aid.

US forces should have gotten Dr. Afridi out of Pakistan as soon as his work was done. Do we know if he chose to stay in that country?

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This is just extortion to get more money from USA when Daniel Pearl was killed 5 million dollars
was given by USA to return his corpse from Pakistan.With aid being cut Pakistan is becoming
innovative in ways to get money from USA.

Why are you so surprised?USA has habit of dumping allies after its work get over.It dumped both afghans and pakistani people after it got its job done in 1990 against USSR.no wonder habits die hard.Hence there should be no surprise that usa got enmity of both pakistani and afghan people.And i'm sure in future some relative of Dr. Afridi will keep this betrayal of usa in mind and will join tailiban/al-qaida to attack usa in future.It was usa which only gave clue about Dr.afridi to pak intelligence by over-zealously publishing operation to capture osama in media.

Why are you so surprised?USA has habit of dumping allies after its work get over.It dumped both afghans and pakistani people after it got its job done in 1990 against USSR.no wonder habits die hard.Hence there should be no surprise that usa got enmity of both pakistani and afghan people.And i'm sure in future some relative of Dr. Afridi will keep this betrayal of usa in mind and will join tailiban/al-qaida to attack usa in future.It was usa which only gave clue about Dr.afridi to pak intelligence by over-zealously publishing operation to capture osama in media.

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What planet are you stupid idiot,to read your comment only confirm's people's very very low expectation's of pakistanis ...

Why are you so surprised?USA has habit of dumping allies after its work get over.It dumped both afghans and pakistani people after it got its job done in 1990 against USSR.no wonder habits die hard.Hence there should be no surprise that usa got enmity of both pakistani and afghan people.And i'm sure in future some relative of Dr. Afridi will keep this betrayal of usa in mind and will join tailiban/al-qaida to attack usa in future.It was usa which only gave clue about Dr.afridi to pak intelligence by over-zealously publishing operation to capture osama in media.

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Did US dump Japan, South Korea, England, Germany, Spain, Canada etc ?

Pakistan is pimped out by its establishment. US throws $ and Pakistan bends over; they stop throwing $ and the whining begins.

I seem to recall that the costs of WOT for Pakistan is higher than what they receive in aid.

They didnt do it out of love, so why shouldnt they get paid.

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That is an exact argument of/for a whore!!

Btw who asked shameless pakis to Join the WOT and kill their own Mard-e-momeen Ummah? So, Stop cooking your own facts, pakis without Foreign AID is dead meat -WOT and Jihad are just their way to beg for alms, which pakis execute very professionally.

P.S: Here pakistan is a whore not you...I know Chinese have some issues with comprehension, hence I have clarified beforehand.

Btw who asked shameless pakis to Join the WOT and kill their own Mard-e-momeen Ummah? So, Stop cooking your own facts, pakis without Foreign AID is dead meat -WOT and Jihad are just their way to beg for alms, which pakis execute very professionally.

P.S: Here pakistan is a whore not you...I know Chinese have some issues with comprehension, hence I have clarified beforehand.

I seem to recall that the costs of WOT for Pakistan is higher than what they receive in aid.

They didnt do it out of love, so why shouldnt they get paid.

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That is what Pakistan claims.

Now if you have ill trained troops, then even in just one operation, you can tote up a huge casualty list.

One of the cases is simply a case where they surrendered to the Taliban without firing one shot, even in anger or fear!

Govt pushes for talks to get troops freed: â€˜Soldiers surrendered without firing a shotâ€™

By Alamgir Bhittani

TANK, Aug 31: With the government appearing in disarray over the seizure of more than 150 soldiers in the restive South Waziristan tribal agency, militants on Friday seized in the Frontier Regionâ€™s Jandola area four vehicles along with five drivers. The vehicles were carrying rations for security forces.

Though the exact number of missing soldiers was yet to be confirmed, security officials put the number at 156.

However, tribal sources claimed that the number of security personnel held hostage was about 205, including 105 regular troops and 100 personnel of the Frontier Corps. A colonel, three majors and some captains were among the personnel seized by militants.

A jirga comprising parliamentarians and 35 Mehsud tribal elders left Wana for Laddah on Friday for talks with militants after meeting Political Agent Hussainzada Khan in Wana. Mr Khan along with Senator Salih Shah had rushed to Wana in a military helicopter to initiate the dialogue.

Political authorities, meanwhile, detained 20 Mehsud tribesmen in Jandola under the territorial responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations to mount pressure on militants to free the security personnel.

Witnesses said the political authorities had initially apprehended 200 tribesmen from a passenger van at Kawar checkpoint near Mianja Fort but later took only 20 of them into custody.

A tribal elder claimed that only 20 militants were able to take hostage over 200 soldiers, 129 of whom were fully armed.

â€œIt is difficult to believe that 200 soldiers surrendered,â€ he said while talking to Dawn. He said the administration had detained innocent people who were in fact fleeing the area for fear of militants.

Local people said the weather conditions were normal in the region and the government claims that the soldiers were stuck in the area due to bad weather was not correct.

Security experts believe that the kidnapping of such a large number of soldiers would affect the morale of security forces operating in the tribal region.

â€œSo many security personnel getting captured without firing a shot affects the image of our forces in the country and also sends a negative signal to the international community,â€ a security analyst in Peshawar remarked.

The troops, it may be mentioned, were captured when a convoy going from Wana to its base in Laddah was intercepted in the Momi Karam area.

Sources said the militants had blocked the road and ordered troops to lay down their arms and surrender communication equipment. After disarming them, the militants divided the soldiers into small groups and took them to unknown places.

Director-General Inter Services Public Relation Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad avoided saying that the troops had been kidnapped. â€œSoldiers are with the local tribesmen somewhere in Laddah area. It cannot be termed as kidnapping,â€ he told Dawn.

He claimed that there had been some misunderstanding about the movement of troops in the area and a jirga had taken initiatives to bring the soldiers back to camp.

On Thursday, he had said that the soldiers had been stranded somewhere in the area due to inclement weather.

According to late-night reports, the jirga had reached Laddah and was likely to hold meetings with the militants on Saturday morning. â€”Staff correspondent Zulfiqar Ali contributed to the report